US Urged to Expedite Haitians' Immigration

One area where the U.S. government could make “an immediate and positive difference” in the lives of impoverished Haitians, who are still reeling from last year’s massive earthquake, is by granting entry to 55,000 Haitian visa candidates with relatives already in the U.S., The Washington Post says.

An editorial piece by The Washington Post notes: “This hardly radical proposal has been embraced by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which represents the very cities that would assume the costs of an influx of immigrants. Moreover, the would-be immigrants’ petitions to enter the United States and rejoin their families have already been approved by the Department of Homeland Security. Once the visa backlog - a function of quotas set by Congress - is cleared, the Haitians are likely to settle in this country anyway.”

The remittances that these would-be U.S. immigrants could send home can help uplift living conditions of Haitians, the newspaper argues.

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“If Congress will not adjust its visa quotas, then the administration could, on its own, accelerate the entry of applicants who otherwise face waits of four to 11 years, grant them “temporary protective status” on arrival and allow them to work,” it adds.

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